Brandy and her mister, Robert Smith, commanded the crowd at a party Monday night to celebrate the release of her new album, Full Moon, at Blue Fin in the W New York Times Square hotel. Funkmaster Flex, Kid Capri, Al Sharpton, and Jay-Z were among those who stopped by ([article id="1452760"]click for photos[/article] from the party). ... It was a full night for Jay Hova, as he and his Roc-A-Fella business partner Damon Dash were spotted at the Nelly Furtado show at nearby Hammerstein Ballroom the same night. ...

Untouchable is right — fans now won't be able to lay a hand on Korn's new album until June 11. The quintet's fifth album was pushed from its previous release date of May 14, while the Hughes Brothers-directed video for its first single, "Here to Stay," is expected to surface in mid-April. ... Jimmy Eat World have pegged "Sweetness" as the third single from their self-titled, latest album, and recently shot a video for the track in Los Angeles with director Tim Hope (Coldplay). Before the surging, call-and-response barnburner surfaces at radio in June, the group will perform on "Saturday Night Live" on April 6. ... The battery trial for Juvenile, who allegedly knocked a man out with a bottle of Moët champagne in Miami, Florida, last year, has been pushed back to May or June, the prosecuting attorney said. ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Shaggy and Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath will be in Monte Carlo this week hosting the 2002 World Music Awards, featuring performances by Alicia Keys, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Ja Rule, Kylie Minogue, Destiny's Child and O-Town. Disco queen Gloria Gaynor will receive the Legend Award for lifetime achievement at the show, which will air later this year on ABC. ... A Minor songstress Keys will also join a bill featuring Mary J. Blige and India.Arie on the main stage at the Essence Festival in New Orleans July 4-6, along with Luther Vandross, Gerald Levert, the Isley Brothers, Faith Evans, Angie Stone, Al Green and Maze. Performing on the "Superlounge" stages inside the Superdome will be Me'shell Ndegèocello, the Roots, De La Soul, Etta James, Glenn Lewis and others. ...

London electronic collective Lo-Fidelity Allstars, whose "Battle Flag" was a breakout hit in 1998, will support their second studio album with four American dates this month, beginning March 14 at the South By Southwest conference in Austin Texas, with shows in Chicago (March 16), New York (18) and Los Angeles (20) to follow. Don't Be Afraid of Love is due Tuesday (March 5). ... A bonus track and a Timbaland remix of Aaliyah's "I Am Music" will be featured on a re-released version of Timbaland and Magoo's second album, Indecent Proposal, which was originally released last November. The new version is due April 23. ... Last week's benefit concerts for the Recording Artists Coalition raised about $2.5 million for the Don Henley-founded organization, which is currently lobbying for better artist contracts. Highlights of the four shows included Radiohead's Thom Yorke appearing with Beck at the Wiltern Theater and Tom Petty joining Stevie Nicks at the Great Western Forum. ...

Former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, Ronnie Spector, Graham Parker, Steve Earle and Ivan Neville will perform with the Nicholas Tremulis Band at the Waltz IV benefit March 23 in Chicago. Wilco's John Stirratt, Alejandro Escovedo, Jon Langford (Mekons), Sonia Dada and others will also participate in the event, which featured Billy Corgan and Marianne Faithfull last year. ... Boston alternative act Throwing Muses — featuring Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly — are getting ready to release their first record since breaking up in 1996. The disc is recorded but not yet mixed and is due out in January of next year. ... Custom, the New York City singer/songwriter behind the single "Hey Mister," is kicking off a month-long tour on March 12 in New Haven, Connecticut, in support of his debut, Fast, due March 19. The trek wraps April 23 in Pelham, Alabama. ...

03.04.02

The gift and the curse indeed — Jay-Z and R. Kelly no doubt feel fortunate to have their songs in constant rotation, but the airplay is apparently too heavy for The Best of Both Worlds. Roc-A-Fella said the duo have moved the release date of the LP up one week, from March 26 to March 19, because radio is regularly spinning five tracks off the album. ... Round mounds of sound Tenacious D will bring their epic sonic maelstroms to the masses on their biggest headlining tour to date, which kicks off March 25 in Pompano Beach, Florida, and punches out April 27 in Las Vegas. Jack Black and Kyle Gass also serve as openers for Kid Rock on a couple of dates before (March 22 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and March 23 in Louisville, Kentucky) and after (March 28 in Kansas City, Missouri, and March 29 in St. Louis, Missouri) their trek's launching date. ...

Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo is working on a solo album comprising material he originally wrote for his day gig. DeLeo, who posted the information on the band's Web site, will play every instrument but drums on the record and is currently deciding whether to hire a singer or tackle the vocals himself. ... Former Germs and Foo Fighters guitarist and Nirvana hired hand Pat Smear has produced the debut album for Harlow, the Gothic, all-female group featured in last year's VH1 reality series "Bands on the Run." The band, which parted ways with guitarist Rayshele Teige, will begin a club tour March 8 in Phoenix to support Harlowland, which is due in summer. ...

No-longer-teenaged Australian rockers Silverchair will release their fourth record, Diorama, on July 9. The disc was recorded with producer David Bottrill (Tool, Peter Gabriel), and features appearances by Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie and classical arrangements by Van Dyke Parks (Beach Boys, U2). ... They'll never tear INXS apart — the '80s hitmakers have risen with Noiseworks singer Jon Stevens subbing for the late Michael Hutchence, and they're taking it on the road for a 40-city U.S. tour starting May 30 in Anaheim, California. Fourteen dates have been confirmed thus far. ...

Ex-Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh and former Mighty Mighty Bosstones guitarist Nate Albert were forced to hit the brakes on their new band, the Brakes, after a New York outfit called the Break hit them with a cease and desist order. The group, which is now known as the Kickovers, is still planning to release its debut album, Osaka, on April 23; a tour with Local H runs from April 9 in Allentown, New Jersey, to April 18 in Washington, D.C. ... Dismemberment Plan, Death Cab for Cutie, Hey Mercedes, Crooked Fingers, Silkworm and the quixotically monikered !!! are among the acts on tap for the seventh annual Michigan Fest. The three-day, DIY-community-powered extravaganza, which this year will take place at the Wayne Tree Manor in Wayne, Michigan, from March 22-24, donates its net proceeds to grassroots charities. ...

On Monday (March 4) in Los Angeles, Coal Chamber will film the video for "Fiend," the debut single off their third album, Dark Days, due May 7, and they're hoping to get some help from their fans. Interested parties can check out roadrunnerrecords.com or coalchamber.com for more details. ... Ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has announced five California shows for his new band, Echobrain. The mini-tour begins March 20 in Petaluma and ends April 12 in Los Angeles. ...

U.K. Hotshots and Radiohead tourmates the Beta Band will kick off a spring trek across North America on March 31 in Dallas. They've lined up 23 other stops, including shows in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles before wrapping up on May 2 in Seattle. ... The Who and Jimmy Page played some shows together in 2000, and now Page's Led Zeppelin mate Robert Plant has agreed to open for the Who for at least two shows: August 24 in Chicago and August 25 in Noblesville, Indiana. Maybe by the end of the tour, the Who will have orchestrated a full Led Zep reunion. ...

Former Pink Floyd visionary Roger Waters is working on his first studio album since 1992's Amused to Death. The disc will be a concept album about a New York cab driver who was once a torture victim in the Balkans. ... The Baldwin Brothers — no, not Alec, Billy, Stephen and the other guy, but an unrelated musical foursome — are getting ready to hit the road. The "junktronic" rockers, whose debut album, Cooking With Lasers, drops April 9, are scheduled to hit Chicago on March 8 and conclude in Cleveland on April 17. ... The next Mudhoney record, which features all the original members except for bassist Matt Lukin, is scheduled for release August 20. Ex-Lubricated Goat bassist Guy Maddison has replaced Lukin. ...

Heavy metal supergroup Down, which features members of Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Eyehategod and Crowbar, have announced the first 12 dates of the tour for their upcoming album Down II. The trek starts in New York on May 1 and so far runs through May 25 in Dallas. ... "The Videos," a 10-song clip collection by director Hype Williams, has been pushed from its previously reported release date of April 30 to May 14. Featuring choice cuts of Williams' best work, including Wu-Tang Clan's "Can It Be All So Simple" and Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'," the compilation will be available on VHS and DVD.